AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Actually,” Oberon says, “that sounds delectable, Elle. It smells like you put in some onions and chives too. Is that correct?”
Elle smiles. “It is! Please, have a seat while I get some bowls.”
Although Lev seems reluctant to have us sit at his table, the tender look he gives Elle tells me he won’t ruin her fun at playing hostess. He’ll suffer through making idle chitchat for her sake.
“Is there a way for us to contact New Aos from here?” I ask Lev, not wanting to overstay my welcome.
“The moment you stepped into this village, your father should have been notified,” he tells me before sitting in the chair at the head of the table. He rubs his face with a hand and sighs heavily. “Nothing we do here goes unnoticed. The king likes to keep tight tabs on his experiments. He’s especially watchful when one of the women becomes pregnant.”
Lev briefly glances Elle’s way.
“My rather overprotective husband hasn’t let me leave the house since I started showing,” Elle informs us as she places a set of chipped bowls around the table for us.
“It’s too risky, love. You know that.” The weariness in Lev’s voice seems to indicate this has become a bone of contention between the two of them.
“When my father takes the babies,” I ask slowly, knowing I need to hear the answer but not sure I’m ready to, “do you ever get them back?”
Lev averts his gaze to the tabletop. “Sometimes, but if they do come back, they’re . . . different.”
“Basic biology would dictate that they’re different from birth,” I say. “Are you saying he does something else to change them?”
Lev looks back at me. “When they return, they’re feral. More animal than human. Most of them end up running off into the woods. We have to hunt them down and kill them. Otherwise, they’ll sneak back into the village and kill us in our sleep. Harold and I were out looking for a feral when we found the two of you. We’ll go back out tonight and keep searching until we find it because if we don’t, it’ll come back here to finish what it started.”
Elle begins to ladle out soup into the bowls. Oberon and I take our seats at the table while she serves us.
“What do you mean by finish what it started?” Oberon asks, taking a wooden spoon that Elle hands him.
“A couple of nights ago,” Lev says, “this feral broke into a house down the street and killed a baby. One of a set of twins.”
I suddenly lose my appetite.
“I’m sure it’ll be back to finish the job and grab the other baby.”
“I don’t understand,” Oberon says. “Why would the king make these ferals? It sounds like they’re killing his test subjects.”
“How should I know what goes through the mind of a mad man?” Lev asks harshly. “Why don’t you ask his daughter? They’re of the same blood. She would know him better them me.”
“I assure you I have never condoned what my father does,” I say. “I’ve fought him on every front, and I will continue to fight against him until my last dying breath.”
“A lot of good your so-called fight has done us,” Lev scoffs, dipping his spoon into his soup. “Nothing has changed in hundreds of years. Sounds to me like you’ve lost the war and refuse to realize that, don’t you think?”
“I’ll never give up, and . . .” I glance at Oberon as he eats his first spoon of soup. “I may finally have a way to strip my father of his power.”
Oberon dips his spoon into his bowl. “Does that mean what I think it does, Princess?”
“It’s the only way.”
The sound of a loud commotion outside interrupts our meal.
“Stay here,” Lev says to Elle. “In fact, don’t get up from this table. It’ll at least hide the fact that you’re pregnant in case the king’s men come inside. Though, I don’t see how they got here so quickly.”
“Get away from me, you filthy mongrel!” We hear a woman shout just down the street.
“Oh dear,” Oberon’s chair scrapes against the wooden floor as he stands. “I’m afraid that’s not the king’s men. That’s my very rude and loud sister.”
I follow his lead outside to find Iris brandishing her dagger in Harold’s face.
“Where is my brother?” she demands to know. “I saw you bring him here. You better tell me where he is, wolf boy, before I rip that monstrous head from your shoulders.”
